Soul Returns to Hong Kong: From Tailor Shop to Richest Woman

The first to break the silence was Su Zhiming's eldest son, Su Zhe; he is fourteen years old and in his third year of junior high school. As the only academic star among the Su family's grandchildren, he has earned his place through St. Paul's Primary School and is now in another government-run junior high school in Kowloon Tong.

Su Zhe pushed up his black-rimmed glasses: "The transfer exam at St. Paul's is notoriously difficult! The general knowledge section even includes the structure of the Governor's House, let alone the math. The last two big questions are definitely beyond the syllabus; out of 300, you scored 299?"

Lin Ying sat down next to He Dazhu, nodded, and told the truth: "There was a fill-in-the-blank question on the Chinese exam. I wrote the character '携' incorrectly at first, so I erased it and rewrote it. The teacher grading the paper said that the paper had black marks and wasn't neat enough, so they deducted one point."

"Hiss~" Su Zhe gasped, giving a thumbs up. "That's impressive. When I was in fourth grade at St. Paul's, I was always getting pushed to my limits by Mr. Zhang and his colleagues during final exams. You never went to school, just studied at home for two months, and you got this score? I'm impressed."

With Su Zhe, the academic star, confirming it, the atmosphere at the table instantly changed. The boys, who were already restless, started chattering even more excitedly.

Sitting next to Su Zhe was the second son, Su Zhi, who was in fifth grade this year. He sighed heavily: "Back then, my father spent a lot of money to let me take the entrance exam for St. Paul's, but I couldn't even understand the general knowledge test paper! I knew all the English words individually, but when they were put together, it was like chanting a sutra! In the end, I didn't even get into the interview and could only go to my current mid-sized private school."

"What's so bad about that?" Su Zhihao's eldest son, Su Cheng, chimed in. He was in sixth grade and had always attended the government-run primary school. He slapped his younger brother, Su Jun, on the shoulder. "You kids in private schools should be grateful! I went to the government-run school, where forty students in one class were crammed into a room without air conditioning. The teachers hit our hands with thick wooden rulers every day. If you went to the government-run school, your hands would be smashed into buns by now!"

"I'm not going to that small-town school!" Su Jun immediately retorted. "But is the homework at St. Paul's even humanly done?! They copy English until midnight every day, so sleepy they're practically banging their heads against the floor, but they still have to keep copying!"

At this moment, Su Wei, who was next to Chen Meishan, also put down the half chicken leg he was holding. He had just turned six this year and was about to start first grade.

"Mommy took me to the St. Paul's University interview last month," Su Wei complained. "The foreign teacher asked me questions with picture cards, and I was so nervous that I even mixed up 'banana' and 'apple.' He said I couldn't recognize all the colors either, and he rejected me outright."

Five children, five different paths to higher education, converge at the dinner table at this moment;

No matter how successful Su Zhihao is outside, one of his sons is just getting by in a minor official position, while the other is at the bottom of the class at St. Paul's and faces the risk of being expelled. Su Zhiming is a manager in Central with money and power, but only his eldest son is successful, while his second and third sons are both barred from prestigious schools.

Lin Ying sat there quietly watching the group of chattering boys, and quickly summarized her thoughts.

"Actually, the questions at St. Paul's aren't that scary; they all follow patterns." Lin Ying took a piece of paper from her pocket, pulled out a sharpened pencil, and pushed it in front of Su Zhi, a fifth-grader.

"Zhi-ge, look at this kind of English reading." Lin Ying quickly wrote two lines of short English sentences on the paper. "If you can't understand the words when they're all together, don't worry about the words in the middle. The logic of the questions on private elementary school English exams is hidden at the beginning and end. Just look at the first and last sentences of each paragraph, and you'll get the gist of it. Try this method for your next final exam."

Su Zhi's eyes widened as she leaned closer: "Really? Our old lady teacher at the private school never said that!"

Lin Ying smiled, then turned to look at Su Cheng, a sixth-grader: "Brother Cheng, you built a solid foundation in math at the official primary school, so your math skills are actually much stronger than those of students in private schools. Private schools teach too fast to keep up with the pace, and many students haven't even memorized the multiplication tables before they start doing fraction calculations. Brother Cheng, your mental arithmetic speed is definitely faster than all of ours right now."

Su Cheng was usually scolded by Su Zhihao at home for not studying hard and being a hopeless case. Today, he was suddenly praised by Lin Ying, who scored 299 points on her test, and he was overjoyed: "That's right! I never make a mistake when it comes to changing money!"

Then, Lin Ying looked at fourteen-year-old Su Zhe: "Brother Zhe, you were able to graduate from São Paulo smoothly back then because you had a really solid foundation. When I start school in September, if I encounter any problems I don't understand, could I borrow your old notes?"

Lin Ying felt that things that could be resolved with just a few words were the simplest;

After this series of actions, the boys looked at Lin Ying with more warmth than they would at their own age, and the disdain that rich boys had for poor girls disappeared, as did the barriers caused by their grades.

The children completely took over the conversation at the dinner table; they first complained about the harsh corporal punishment at the official primary school, then talked about the difficult English grammar in the private primary school, and finally discussed the steps to break down math word problems...

Su Zhe immediately took out a few junior high school algebra problems to discuss with her; Lin Ying only glanced at them and gave another solution using reverse thinking from elementary school arithmetic.

"You can interpret it like that?" Su Zhe's eyes widened.

The children gathered together, chattering away. Even Su Jun, who usually couldn't sit still, was quietly listening at the table.

The adults couldn't get a word in edgewise and just watched silently from the sidelines.

Seeing his troublemaking second son obediently listening to the lesson, Su Zhihao, unusually, didn't argue with his older brother, Su Zhiming. Su Zhihao usually hated those bookish people who spoke fluent foreign languages, but looking at Lin Ying today, this rough man suddenly felt that having a literate child by his side to give him some pointers might not be such a bad thing.

Su Zhiming held his teacup, his gaze deep as he looked at He Dazhu, then at Lin Ying. Having experienced years of business battles, he knew very well that a bright child like this, as long as she didn't go astray, would definitely make a name for herself in Hong Kong.

"Dazhu," Chen Meishan changed her address, even skipping "Master He," her tone familiar, "How did your daughter's brain develop? She's not someone a human being raised; she's clearly a reincarnation of the God of Literature!"

He Dazhu held his chopsticks, smiled and nodded, saying he was lucky.

Chen Meishan looked at Lin Ying: "Ying, there's still more than a week until school starts in September. You spend every day with your dad in the shop in Yau Ma Tei, listening to him and your grandfather grinding jade. That workshop is so dusty and boring, isn't it?"

Before anyone could interrupt, she extended an invitation: "Starting tomorrow, you'll be coming to your aunt's house! My apartment in Central is very spacious, and the air conditioning is blasting. Come during the day, and I'll have the housekeeper cook you something delicious—order whatever you like! Also, you can help your brothers Zhe and Zhi discuss these math problems, and we can all look at the next section of the textbook together. Wouldn't that be great?"

"Yeah, Ying, come to my house!" Su Zhi, a fifth-grader, immediately raised his voice in agreement.

"That's right, come to our house and play together!" Su Wei shouted along.

The meal lasted until 8 p.m.

The subtle sarcasm between the brothers disappeared, the disputes over the inheritance and ownership of the shops were put aside, and the previous mutual disdain was gone. The table was filled with discussions about the differences in teaching methods in various schools, and the adults watched the children's conversation with smiles on their faces.

Even Su Yongchang, who was sitting in the main seat, drank two extra cups of sorghum liquor. The old man looked at his two sons, who for the first time did not quarrel at the dinner table, and then at his honest apprentice He Dazhu, feeling very relieved.

This was probably one of the few harmonious meals the Su family had eaten in the past ten years.

As the party ended, Su Zhiming approached He Dazhu and said, "Dazhu, you'll have to work hard at the shop from now on. If you need any help at home, just let me know."

Su Zhihao patted He Dazhu on the shoulder, and although he didn't say anything conciliatory, his eyes were much more polite than before.

------

He Dazhu held Lin Ying's hand as they walked back to Yufa Building.

"Sister."

"Um?"

"You really made Old Dou proud today." He Dazhu was illiterate and couldn't articulate profound truths, but he understood perfectly well that his daughter had earned her place in the Su family with her own abilities at the dinner table.

"Old Dou," Lin Ying squeezed his rough fingers back, "this is just the beginning."